Small children are typically introduced to toilet training by encouraging them to sit on an appropriately scaled, but otherwise conventional appearing chair having a back, armrests, a seating area with an opening and, optionally a folding seat cover, the latter corresponding to a conventional toilet seat cover. The underside of the chair is fitted with means for retaining a waste-receiving receptacle having a handle or other structure to facilitate its removal after use, carrying and emptying of the waste from the receptacle into the toilet.
In these toilet training chairs, or potty chairs, of the prior art, the seat typically forms part of the unitary structure of the chair and is positioned parallel to the floor or other surface upon which the training chair is positioned.
In an apparent effort to encourage the child's early acceptance and use of the toilet, a wide variety of structures have been proposed for toilet training. These include molded plastic structures in the form of various animals, including a bear, and vehicles, including tugboats, automobiles and trucks. All of these devices for the potty training of toddlers are provided with a substantially horizontal seating position with an opening below which is positioned a waste receiving receptacle. In some cases, the child straddles the structure and in others assumes a normal seated position.
Toilet training is usually initiated after a toddler has progressed to the point of being able to walk around with a reasonable level of competence. It has been noted that toddlers wearing diapers will typically and commonly assume a squatting position for the purpose of initiating a bowel movement. The squatting position is also assumed by adults living in aboriginal or other primitive communities which have neither the benefit of indoor toilets, or outdoor latrines or other facilities for the sanitary disposal of their excrement.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a potty training chair that is configured to encourage a toddler's early use by permitting the assumption of a more natural posture at the early stage of training.
A further object of the invention is to provide a toilet training chair for which the seating position can be adjusted during the course of the child's training.